el niÑo year on its way. one bad boy, that's the "inside story." >> welcome to inside story. i'm ray suarez. that namel niÑo is a spanish term of endearment for the christ child as people in the latin region weather notice the weather effects at christmastime. this year that baby may not be sleeping in heavenly peace. the set of phenomenon involving ocean water, wind patterns and atmospheric effects. >> this is what five inches of rain in a single hour does to a drought-baked i will side. but that's nothing if el niÑo arrives. >> take those small events and let it rain longer, and that gives you an image of how things could go badly. >> an expert on california's rivers and water supply. >> we're not ready as a state for a for a very large flood. >> to keep floodwaters under control california has 13,000 miles of levies. a katrina type disaster poised to flood california. >> there are two kinds of levies. those that have failed and those that will fail. eventually the levy system will be overwhelmed. the question is this the year that the levy system is overwhelmed. >> the delta outside of sacramento e

el niÑo is not going to be the y 2 k of swine flu of el niÑos? you talked about this one as being almost a can fail lead pipe cinch. >> i named it the godzilla of elbig to fail. if this el niÑo doesn't deliver i'm going to have to go into a protection witness program. [ chuckling ] what we've seen from past episodes like this, as we get into january and february we should see a sub tropical jet stream that shifts north and delivers a convoy of storms across the southern tier of the united states hitting california, the southwest, texas, and getting pumped up, and it has a particularly large impact over florida. whereas the northern tier of the united states will be relatively mild later in the winter, and that has all those things have big economic impacts across the country. >> what happens afterwards? >> well, afterwards, you know, el niÑo only lasts for about a year. but in many of these big el niÑos the trade winds come back with a vengeance, the equatorial pacific turns very cool, and what shows up is what known as la nina, the dry sibling of el niÑo, and we go back to drought across the southern tier of the united states, and fierce winters

you've heard its name -- el nino. >> el nino is about a year-long warming that takes place along the equator in the eastern half of the tropical pacific. it's related to changes in the trade winds. they are weaker when that ocean warms up, and this is from the coast of south america all the way out to the middle of the pacific ocean. >> reporter: nate is a climate scientist with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration in santa cruz, california. this rain, when is the last time you saw this rain? >> you know, we've had very little of this in the last four years. >> reporter: four years? he's been studying the effects of el nino for 30 years. weaken. >> and when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> reporter: and this el nino, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino is among the three strongest since 1950, at least. >> reporter: so strong, the effects of this el nino can be seen on every weather forecaster's radar the world over. >> this warm pattern, which

you've heard its name -- el nino. >> el nino is about a year-l-lg warmrmg that takes place along the equator in the eastern half of the tropical pacific. it's related to changes in the trade winds. they are weaker when that ocean warms up, and this is from the coast of south america all the way out to the middle of the pacific ocean. >> reporter: nate is a climate scientist with the national oceanic a atmoseric administration in santa crcr, californrn. this rain, when is the last time you saw this rain? >> you know, we've had very little of this in the last four years. >> reporter: four years? of el nino for 30 years. every four to seven years, he says those pacific trade winds weakak. >> a a when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. so wet places tend to be really dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> reporter: and this el nino, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino is among the three strongest since 1950, at least. >> reporter: so strong, the effects of this el nino can be seen on every weather fore

you've heard its name, el nino know. >> it's about a year long warming that takes place along the equator in the eastern half of the tropical pacific. and it's related to changes in the trade winds. ocean warms up. this is from the coast of outamerica to the middle of the average ocean. >> nate is a climatologist with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. >> when was the last time you saw this rain? >> we've had very little of this in the last four years. >> four years? >> mantua has been studying the effects of el nino know for 30 years. every four to seven years he says, those pacific trade winds weaken. >> and when that happens, there's a massive shift in rainfall patterns in the tropics. so wet places end to be really dry. and normally dry places end up getting lots of rainfall. >> this el nino know, how significant or intense is it? >> the current el nino know is among the three strongest since 1950 at least. el nino know can be seen on every weather forecaster's radar the world over. >> this warm pat concern is not only at the center but of the pacific ocean provides

name. the el nino that we're dealing with this year is one of the strongest ones we've seen since 1997. here are the warm sea temperatures and toys disrupting weather all across the world. now in the united states we've been seeing record heat to the eastern half the country and stormy and snowy out west so this is comparable to the el nino we saw in 1997. but that being said, it's still much warmer than it ever got in 1997. this is unprecedented long lasting warmth. it's never been this warm for this long of a period of time, and according to noaa this is actually one of the september to novembers on record and december is setting up to be one of the warmest december on record so that's why we're not looking like we'll see a white christmas but certainly one of the warmest not a lot going on beside lake-effect snow and another system making it way when you need something utterly unique to wear, go to your wardrobe. your jewelry wardrobe... jared the galleria of jewelry... for the ultimate selection of levian. only levian, masters of jewelry design for centuries... makes jewelry with ch

come our way as conversations with meteorologists i think that's their property name and scientists warn us of the el nino storms that are coming here that will certainly our city and our area will be a focus of what necessary expect to be flooding i haven't seen any rain yet but i want to be and so our department desirable reduce if we lucky we'll be offeringly prepared we deal with unexpected dangers about you it is good he appreciate the departments and our direction coming together and doing everything we can to prepare not only themselves and their operations but to the public to the medium large and small businesses particularly to the residents for most now we know that with the exceptions we've been working in the private segment and public sector as well as with the faith based partners to make sure we're all ready and reemphasis that everyone should continue at their time when there isn't a big flooding going on to assess sf 72.org that is where there is good information we work on that site very well to prepare everybody and again thank our department of emergency services for putting out robus

come our way as conversations with meteorologists i think that's their property name and scientists warn us of the el nino storms that are coming here that will certainly our city and our area will be a focus of what necessary expect to be flooding i haven't seen any rain yet but i want to be and so our department desirable reduce if we lucky we'll be offeringly prepared we deal with unexpected dangers about you it is good he appreciate the departments and our direction coming together and doing everything we can to prepare not only themselves and their operations but to the public to the medium large and small businesses particularly to the residents for most now we know that with the exceptions we've been working in the private segment and public sector as well as with the faith based partners to make sure we're all ready and reemphasis that everyone should continue at their time when there isn't a big flooding going on to assess sf 72.org that is where there is good information we work on that site very well to prepare everybody and again thank our department of emergency services for putting out robus

first time in history we've had a named storm every month from january to december out here in the western pacific in just one year. really a lot of that is to blame on el ninohe warm sea temperatures down here. definitely a very historical event if this does become a named storm system. it will eventually move off to the northwest. something to track into early next week because it could be a big rainmaker out here in the philippines. let's look back to the north and get back to the winter weather out here across japan. more so, actually. not so much in the form of snowfall. actually, some record or near recordbreaking temperatures into the tokyo area. mainly because we've had these strong southerly winds coming in with it, and it really has been warming up. thursday morning into tokyo, you had a reported low of 4.7. look at the high forecast for today. all the way up to 22. not to mention the rain that has been coming with it as well. some areas about 80 millimeters in the one hour of span. reports out here about 300 millimeters back to the west. now you have seen a report upwards of 293 millimeters in the past 24 hours. still more rain expected in the nor

name. so the el nino that we're dealing with this year is one of the strongest ones we've seen since 1997. here are the warm sea surface temperatures and it's disrupting weather all across the world. in the united states we've been seeing record heat to the eastern half of the country and west. so this is comparable to the el nino in 1997, but it is still much warmer than it ever got in 1997. this is unprecedented long lasting warmth. it's never been this warm for this long of a period of time and according to noaa, this is one of the warmest septembers to novembers on record and december is setting up to be one of the warmest decembers on record. so that's why we're not going to see a white christmas but it is certainly going to be one of the warmest ones we've seen. not a whole lot going on besides some lake effect snow and another storm system makes its way into the spafk northwest. your local forecast is just coming up in 30 seconds. gorgeous, trend- setting looks like this limited edition piece you can only find at jared. that's why... she went to jared. >> and that's your latest fore

i'm considering el nino for a name. >> have you checked with ben about that? has ben signed off on at? >> he will not be ininto it. >> ginger, thank you. >>> coming up here on "gma," an abc news investigation, donald trump under fire, the new video raising questions about whether he lied under oath. what abc news uncovered about his relationship with a convicted felon. >>> an alert for parents, popular new app millions of teens are using that blocks you from accessing it. could it be dangerous? new concerns about threats coming up. >>> a major retailer putting a hold on hoverboards after a series of frightening incidents.s network is faster than verizon and at&t... based on data from the world's foremost authority on independent measurement. to celebrate, we're gonna cut some prices in half. switch to sprint and sav50% on verizon, at&t or t-mobile rates. no gimmicks. no tricks. u.s. wireless history! 50% off. at&t too? 50% off. even t-mobile? 50% off. plus, we'll even pay your switching fees, up to $650 per line. so switch totoday. a medley of cinnamon, ginger

el nino. let's first talk about this over here toward the west. this storm system, this is now being namedinter storm frank. it has pressure down to 931 hectopascals. a high situated over europe will create a tight pressure gradient. we are looking at winds about 100 to 130 kilometers per hour, british isles toward iceland. the big situation here is that this storm system is coming on the heels of record-breaking floods, which has been devastated much of this area. in yorkshire, washing out bridges. many homes and businesses have been inundated. into the forecast along with those winds, an additional 30 to 40 mill liters of rainfall. some areas could even see much more than that. back in the west, though, this has been bringing in strong southwesterly winds. iberian peninsula, temperatures have been above average. high of 17 in lisbon. as this part of the jet stream pulls up, look at all this blue out here. these are your highs. overnight lows, temperatures continue to dip down in the kiev, minus 11. much of turkey is looking at below zero temperatures extending across the black sea here.

come our way as conversations with meteorologists i think that's their property name and scientists warn us of the el ninoare coming here that will certainly our city and our area will be a focus of what necessary expect to be flooding i haven't seen any rain yet but i want to be and so our department desirable reduce if we lucky we'll be offeringly prepared we deal with unexpected dangers about you it is good he appreciate the departments and our direction coming together and doing everything we can to prepare not only themselves and their operations but to the public to the medium large and small businesses particularly to the residents for most now we know that with the exceptions we've been working in the private segment and public sector as well as with the faith based partners to make sure we're all ready and reemphasis that everyone should continue at their time when there isn't a big flooding going on to assess sf 72.org that is where there is good information we work on that site very well to prepare everybody and again thank our department of emergency services for putting out robust sets of inf

name. in new hampshire. you can watch it live right here on abc7 starting at 5:00 p.m. >>> a busy day. stay with me. a lot hour coming up. el nino is expected to cause chaos on the russian river. we will take you back three decades when a storm sent the river rushing into nearby gernville. and "star wars" is going for a record at the box office. the numbers already being racked up. and "star wars" is not just a theater experience for these fans who are feeling the force big time tonight. abc7 news at 11:00 >>> well, "star wars" fans were not just packing theaters tonight, but they were getting a taste of the force. in several cities including los angeles and san francisco, thousands battle ited with light sabres. isn't that a great i'm men at night? surge -- great image at night. sergio is live with this galactic free for all. sergio? >> the crowd here, dan, has cleared out quite a bit, but there are still a few people here. the force is strong with them. they have been swinging their light sabres at each other for more than three hours now. it is not very long ago in a galaxy not far away at all, hundreds of jedi braved the rai

come our way as conversations with meteorologists i think that's their property name and scientists warn us of the el ninostorms that are coming here that will certainly our city and our area will be a focus of what necessary expect to be flooding i haven't seen any rain yet but i want to be and so our department desirable reduce if we lucky we'll be offeringly prepared we deal with unexpected dangers about you it is good he appreciate the departments and our direction coming together and doing everything we can to prepare not only themselves and their operations but to the public to the medium large and small businesses particularly to the residents for most now we know that with the exceptions we've been working in the private segment and public sector as well as with the faith based partners to make sure we're all ready and reemphasis that everyone should continue at their time when there isn't a big flooding going on to assess sf 72.org that is where there is good information we work on that site very well to prepare everybody and again thank our department of emergency services for putting out robust

name. in new hampshire. you can watch it live right here on abc7 starting at 5:00 p.m. >>> a busy day. stay with me. a lot hour coming up. el nino is expected to cause chaos on the russian river. we will take you back three decades when a storm sent the river rushing into nearby gernville. and "star wars" is going for a record at the box office. the numbers already being racked up. and "star wars" is not just a theater experience for these fans who are feeling the force big time tonight. abc7 news at 11: aduring sleep train's ur latriple choice sale.ig for a limited time, you can choose up to 48 months interest-free financing on a huge selection of tempur-pedic models, or choose to save $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic mattress sets. you can even choose $300 in free gifts with sleep train's most popular stearns & foster mattresses. the triple choice sale ends sunday at sleep train. ♪ sleep train [train horn] ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ were not just packing theaters tonight, but they were getting a taste of the force. in several cities including los angeles and san francisco, thousands battle ited with light sab